In addition to Constantine's choice to open a branch of the Forgotten Bookstore in Gotham, the Night Master Jim also reopened a Forgotten Bar in Gotham's Inner World as a base for his team's activities in the Gotham World and the Academy of Magic.

The Night Master's squad is not fully formed at the moment, but there are already several regular members, such as Dead Man Brand, Orangutan Detective Bobo, Black Orchid Susan, Lady Shangdu, Vampire Bennett, etc., and the Night Master is still actively contacting the swamp monsters, the Mist Doctor, etc., and even found Wonder Woman.

Jim stood in front of the bar and wiped his glass, and the orangutan detective sat in the bar with his pipe in his mouth, his legs together and his hands between them, and he dangled his long black hairy feet and said in a deep voice similar to a primate roar, "Still bothering about recruitment?" ”

"How can I not be upset?" Jim wiped the shiny cup in his hand over and over again, and said, "Maybe you think you should be happy that the Earth Magic Defense Network has been set up so easily, but over the years, I know these magicians too well, do you really think they will be genuinely happy about this?" ”

"I've always been pessimistic about humans," an orangutan sighs, a somewhat comical gesture that doesn't have any special comedic effect when a detective orangutan wearing a detective hat, monocle, and pipe in his mouth makes a serious expression, and the sigh sounds stressful.

"We used to argue about it." Jim also sighed softly, lowered his head slightly, groped the bottom of the cup with his fingers, and said: "I think you are too pessimistic, human beings have developed through hardships and developments, and they have their own strength and tenacity, but now I have to admit that luck accounts for a large proportion. ”

"Have a drink, my old man." Dead Man Brand put an arm on the bar and said, "Alcohol will massage your frowning brow, and talking to friends will stretch your tight heart, we all know that you have been under a lot of pressure for a while, don't you tell us?" ”

"I just...... I just don't want to use this pessimistic atmosphere to make the team we just formed disheartened. Jim took a deep breath and said, "I haven't heard any good news since the vampire invasion, but the news has been even worse lately. ”

Bennett, who was standing by the door, turned around, stepped over the threshold and walked in, saying, "Even Konstantin is standing in the sun again, what nightmare we can't get rid of?" ”

Jim stood there for a long time before he said, "That Green Lantern named Hal thought I was a good guy and could take on the duties of guarding the magical defense network, so he gave me access to the Green Lantern Energy Shield, where I initially found a lot of loopholes. ”

The orangutan detective immediately frowned, and he said, "Is there something wrong with the way we built it?" Technical limitations? ”

Jim shook his head and said, "No, someone has done something in the structure, they think I'm going to throw all the work to the outside Supreme Mage and Green Lantern, they probably didn't think I'd look at it, the hole is obvious, it's not hidden." ”

"For whom?" Bennett asked with feeling.

"Demons and angels, or powerful creatures like them, are not humans, but we all know that only human mages are involved in building a magical defense network."

The orangutan detective sighed and said, "That's why I think that guy named Stephen Strange is telling us fairy tales, how can he unite all the magicians of humanity to keep those monsters out?" As long as one person is tempted, he will lose the whole game. ”

Jim finally couldn't control his sad expression, he slammed the cup on the bar with a "snap" and said, "I will never feel sorry for those young people who are not strong-willed to waver, but the ones who have the ability to do something on the magical defense network must be the archmage, they have lived longer than anyone else, and they should be more determined than anyone else." ”

"We even fought the vampire invasion together, we saved London and humanity together, and we were lucky enough to get a bargaining chip on an equal footing with the devil, but before a year passed, they forgot about it!"

"Humans are always forgetful." Bennett lowered his eyes and said, "There was not much time between Jesus' salvation and Judas' receipt of the coins. ”

"That's why you're in such a hurry to gather people." The black orchid leaned against the door frame of the back door, crossed her arms and said a little lazily, "Do you want to kill them?" ”

"I don't know." Jim clenched his glass tightly, shook his head, and said, "I don't know if the wizarding world can afford such a slaughter again, and I don't know if I can do it myself, they used to be our comrades." ”

"Not anymore." Dead Man Brand sighed, and the atmosphere was momentarily gloomy.

"Click!"

A clear sound came from outside the door, Jim turned his head to look, and from the window next to him, he could see the sign of the mailbox outside the door standing up, he retracted his thoughts, and said with some doubts, "There is a letter?" Did any of you put your billing address here? ”

"Don't talk nonsense, Jim." Mrs. Shangdu came down the stairs on the second floor and said, "The courier who delivers the bill can't come here, maybe it's an old friend of ours." ”

Bennett, who was closest to the door, stepped out, pressed down the flag on the letterbox at the door, opened the letterbox door, and found a beautifully packaged letter.

The pattern on the fire paint seal was a little unfamiliar, and Bennett couldn't see the identity of the other party, so he handed the letter directly to Master Jim, who groped for the lines of the fire paint seal and said, "It's a letter from Rodriguez Manor, why didn't Schiller call me directly?" ”

Jim took out the disassembly knife from under the bar, gently cut through the fire paint seal, and let out an exclamation as he took out the letter inside, and said, "Oh, it's an invitation." ”

Jim's mood finally cleared up, and he opened the invitation card as he said, "Schiller hasn't had a banquet in years, and I went to it once when he was living in Maryland, and I was impressed by the delicious food. ”

Jim instinctively pursed his lips, and the thought of the taste of food made his mouth flutter, so he smiled and opened the letterhead, which read in beautiful floral letters:

"Through me, into the city of pain; Through me, enter into the pit of eternal misery; Through me, enter the crowd of eternal eons and record the millionth great victory of mankind, please come to the ...... on Tuesday afternoon."

Jim was a little confused, and the orangutan detective leaned in, read out the sentence from the please, and said, "As expected, the Divine Comedy." ”

"You still read Dante?"

"The way you look now can be called discrimination, do you think orangutans can't read? When I was in the circus, I had been in the Tuesday afternoon reading clubs of the rich people, who didn't like Dante, but I felt the need to form a club for it. ”

"And what's your favorite quote in it?"

"This beast...... It will feel hungrier after a full meal than before a full meal. The orangutan detective held out a finger and said, "This reveals a great truth about humanity, and it is just as you are bothered about right now." ”

"When you are in hardship and hardship, and when you are dying, you show your greatest will to survive and unite, and the devil will be divided and eaten by you, but when the crisis has passed and everything is fine, an irresistible strong appetite stirs up from your stomach and heart, not to devour the enemy, but to bite your kind, not because you are hungry, but because you want to be above all your kind."

All eyes in the room were focused on the orangutan, but the orangutan detective didn't feel shy or shy away, he just said in a deep voice: "When you think of me as a monster, I only think it's ridiculous, because when you watch you tear a piece of flesh from your kind with your mouth wide open, I already know who the real monster is." ”

Jim couldn't argue with that, but it stirred his mind, and he turned white with the invitation in his fingertips, and said, "Once upon a time, Schiller didn't participate in any social activities in the wizarding world, and people said he was a freak and out of mainstream society. ”

"He'd told me about the fall of a greater kingdom in his dreams, so he didn't care where the wizarding world was going, it seemed too small for him to be worth mentioning."

"That's true." Lady Shangdu spoke, "If you have bathed in the torrent of the collapse of the dynasty, you will understand that mankind has repeated the mistakes of the past countless times, because they are such fools. ”

"Oh, it's fitting that we've moved to Gotham ('village of fools' in English)." The dead man said with a low laugh.

"Alright, now let's decide who is going to the banquet and who is going to stay to watch the house, we have a lot of things to do."

"He only invited you, so ......"

"With all due respect, he didn't write my name, but he sent the letter here, which means he invited all of us." Jim shook the invitation in his hand and said, "I don't know if there's going to be a ball, so it's best to bring a female companion." ”

"I'll go with you." Mrs. Shangdu walked to the bar from the side of the stairs, bent down and propped herself on the table with her forearms, dragged her cheek with one hand, and said, "I miss that blue-eyed little guy a little, he made a big noise last time and scared me, but it just shows that he is young and vigorous and energetic, and he will be a good rider." ”

"I'll go too." Bennett said, "I guess Konstantin will go too, I haven't asked him what happened to me last time." ”

Black Orchid yawned and said, "I'm not interested in proms, but I haven't had a good meal in a long time, and it's damn heat." ”

"Isn't there anyone else going? So that's it. Jim finally put the cup back on the holder, moved his wrist and said, "I remember I brought the dress I wore to the Mayan Carnival, and I was going to shave and change into a formal suit." ”

Jim hurried upstairs, Bennett was puzzled, and Jim turned back to him and explained, "Believe me, be dignified, Schiller's banquets are usually worthy of all the elaborate dressing. ”

Madame Shangdu stroked her hair, rubbed her wrist and said, "Let me think about where I put the pearl bracelet that Vivien gave me last time......

In the kitchen of Rodriguez Manor, Pamela opened the door of the walk-in freezer, stared at the stacks of meat ingredients inside, and said in shock, "You hunted all the deer in the whole of New Jersey?!" ”

"That's the ingredients for the banquet." Schiller selects vegetables from a nearby shelf and says, "And that's only half of it, and the other half of the most important main course is still in the basement." ”

Pamela's body stiffened visibly, her heart rate soaring almost to its peak with the fastest acceleration, and she said in a trembling tone, "Then I can ...... Have you had the pleasure of watching the other half of the raw materials processed? ”

"Of course, miss, my pleasure."